The upcoming coaching camp for India’s male hockey gamers in Bengaluru seems unsure after half a dozen of them examined constructive for Covid-19. Nonetheless, the ladies can resume observe in any case of them examined damaging for the virus.
Six Indian males’s workforce gamers – skipper Manpreet Singh, striker Mandeep Singh, defenders Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, drag-flicker Varun Kumar and goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak – have examined constructive after reaching Bengaluru for the nationwide camp, scheduled to start out on August 20. Of those, Mandeep has been hospitalised after his blood oxygen ranges dropped on Monday.
“The lads’s camp is doubtful after six constructive outcomes, extra experiences are nonetheless awaited from the state authorities,” a SAI supply informed PTI. “However the girls’s camp remains to be on target after all of the gamers examined damaging. They’re at present below a 14-day quarantine interval and the sunshine depth camp will start as soon as it’s over.”
At the moment, 33 male and 24 feminine gamers are in Bengaluru for the camp. The six Covid-19 constructive males – largely from Punjab – had been a part of a 10-member group that travelled collectively from New Delhi. Based on sources near the developments, the quantity may rise as all of the check experiences of the boys’s workforce haven’t but to return.
The sunshine depth nationwide camp was supposed to start out within the final week of August after a month-long break and was anticipated to proceed until September 30. It’s learnt that SAI accepted the camp after a request from Hockey India, which is among the many 57 de-recognised Nationwide Sports activities Federations (NSFs).
“Resuming nationwide camps just isn’t solely SAI’s determination. We take suggestions and inputs from each NSF earlier than deciding something as a result of they’re extra conscious than us. We simply give them assist when it comes to opening up our infrastructure,” a SAI supply mentioned.
“We’re in deliberations with respective authorities, together with Hockey India on the resumption of males’s camp and a call on this matter will likely be taken shortly.”
Stories have alleged that the boys’s workforce gamers, throughout their break, didn’t observe well being security protocols as strictly as they need to have been. India’s solely World Cup-winning hockey captain Ajit Pal Singh criticised the Punjab-based gamers for travelling collectively whereas saying that the fault additionally lies with HI, which ought to have stored a tab on its gamers throughout their time at dwelling.
“The lads’s workforce gamers must be extra accountable. They’re nationwide icons and they need to set the precise examples for the long run generations. In the event that they had been required to observe quarantine guidelines, they need to have adopted them strictly,” Ajit Pal informed PTI.
“The federation officers additionally have to take some accountability. They need to have ensured that the gamers adhere to quarantine guidelines at dwelling. Take a look at the women, all of them examined damaging which reveals that they’re extra accountable and disciplined than their male counterparts.”
Ajit Pal additionally questioned the necessity for the resumption of the coaching camp presently because the Indian hockey groups don’t have any main tournaments lined up this yr, apart from the boys’s Asian Champions Trophy in November in Dhaka.
That too seems set to be postponed because of the pandemic. “Life is extra treasured than any sport presently. I don’t perceive the logic behind resuming the camp now as a result of we don’t have any tournaments lined up until April subsequent yr (FIH Professional League),” the 1975 World Cup-winning skipper mentioned.
“We’re solely placing all of the gamers and everybody concerned in danger by doing this. We now have to maintain that in thoughts.”